Pleated shelf edging



Aug. 1, 1939. KARFIQL 2,167,759

I PLEATED SHELF EDGING Filed Oct. 11, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l a? wi 11 INVENTOR. Edward Korflo! U BY -FWWQ ATTORNEY.

Aug. 1, 1939. V E. KARFIOL 2,157,759

PLEATED HELF EDGING Filed Oct. 11 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 n M INVENTOR. ii Edward Marf'rol ATTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 1, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIEE Application October 11,

6 Claims.

This invention relates to shelf edgings and is directed more particularly to a shelf edging having a pleated ply. The pleats utilized in the edging of this invention may be of various forms;

such as corrugations, flutes, box pleats, side .pleats, bias pleats, pattern pleats or the pleated ply may be combination pleated, shirred, etc.

The difiiculty with pleated edgings as heretofore made is that they are difficult to maintain in in proper shape when placed on a shelf. The pleats tend to become unpleated and straighten out and assume a more or less wavy condition in a direction longitudinally of the shelf. Furthermore, they are apt to be distorted at the upper edge of the edging if a plate is drawn off of the shelf in a way to engage such pleats. When engaged from below as by placing plates on or removing them from a lower shelf, they also tend to become distorted and do not return to straight line condition thereafter.

The primary object of the present invention is to anchor the pleats in such a Way that they will retain a uniform tailored appearance throughout the life of the edging.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pleated edging which will have very considerable rigidity. Ordinary pleated edgings have little longitudinal stiffness, The very nature of the pleats tends to throw them out of line in a lateral direction for the bends or folds in the paper or other material from which the edging is made, tend to open up and throw the pleats laterally out of line, so that the edging assumes a wavy appearance which is unsightly and undesirable.

According to the present invention, in contradistinction, the pleats are firmly held in position by a plurality of reinforcing plies, so that they are individually rendered relatively rigid throughout at least the greater portion of the height of the edging, whereby the tendency to open up is eliminated and the whole structure made longitudinally rigid, so that it will retain a neat and tailored appearance at all times.

The edging of the present invention is made of at least three plies, the main ply of which is vertically pleated. This pleated main ply is backed up for at least the greater portion of its height by a backing ply, preferably adhesively secured to the back of the main ply, so as to be adhesively attached to each pleat with which it is in face abutting relation and to bridge the valleys between the pleats to form with the pleated material a succession of truss-like elements, the inherent parts of which are consecutively integral with 55 one another. This will produce marked rigidity 1938, Serial No. 234,375

for practically the entire height of the pleated portion while gluing down the pleats in a way that they cannot open up at the back of the structure. Over an appreciable portion of the front face of the main ply an ornamental front ply is affixed, preferably by an adhesive, the same being glued down to the main ply, so as to be attached to the successive pleats and to bridge the valleys between them with a truss-like structure. The pleated main ply is thus formed at both its front and back, for an appreciable portion of its height, with a double overlapping truss arrangement, all the inherent plies of which are glued together in an unusually firm and rigid construction, so that there is no possibility of opening the pleats. They simply cannot open up and are thus held in a firm straight line relation with respect to one another.

The ornamental front ply to which I have referred may be provided with perforations, openings or other forms of ornamentation and may be embossed, scalloped, etc. This front ply may be located in the upper portion of the edging and provided with an upper scalloped edge, the protuberances of which preferably extend above the upper edges of both the main and back plies so as to cover and conceal the joint between the edging and the shelf when the edging is attached to the front edge of said shelf with the upper edges of the main and backing plies flush with the upper face of the shelf. The scalloped edge projects as stated without direct attachment to the main ply, so that it may freely bend if engaged by a dish, but will immediately return to its normal position without any damage thereto.

Features of the invention, other than those adverted to, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The accompanying drawings illustrate different practical embodiments of the invention, but the constructions therein shown are to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits. of the invention.

Figure 1 is a section perspective showing a length of shelf edging embodying the present invention attached to the front edge of a shelf.

Figure 2 is a section through the edging on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a View similar to Figure 1, but looking from the back of the shelf toward the front thereof.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of F gure 1.

Figures 5, 6 and '7 are perspective sections showing modified forms of the invention.

Figures 8-12 are diagrammatic views.

Figure 13 is a vertical section of a modified form.

Referring to the drawings, I designates the main ply which is pleated, as shown, said pleats being flattened. 2 is the back ply extending over at least the greater portion of the height of the main ply I from the upper edge of the main ply down and preferably to the lower edge thereof. These two plies are, in practice, pasted together by glue or some other suitable adhesive, so as to be in face abutting relation at the respective pleats 3 with the back ply bridging the valleys 4.

The ornamental front ply 5 in Figures 1-4 is placed in face abutting relation to the front face of the main ply and near the upper edge thereof and similarly glued thereto, so as to be directly attached to the pleats 3 and bridge the valleys 6.

The front ply and the back ply are thus both firmly attached to the high points of the pleats to form, with the pleats, a double truss-like cross section with the trusses formed between the pleats and the back ply 2 overlapping the trusses formed by the pleats and the front ply 5. When the whole construction is glued together a very strong and rigid arrangement results, so that the upper portion of the edging is practically rigid. The lower portion of the edging is stiffened appreciably by the back ply 2.

If desired, the pleats may be also glued down and in the making of the structure sufficient glue may be applied to the plies 2 and 5, so as to spread over the pleats and into the folds thereof, but, in practice, this is not found necessary. It may, however, be desirable where a particularly rigid construction is wanted.

The upper edge of the ornamental front ply 5 may be made flush with the upper edges of the plies I and 2, but in Figures 1-4 it extends slightly above this elevation and is provided with an ornamental edge such as the wavy edge I shown in Figures 1 and 3. This edge, if' of paper, is resilient and the edging may be attached to a shelf so that the scallops project slightly above the upper face of the shelf S, as shown in full lines in Figure 3 and in dotted lines in Figure 4. They thus conceal the upper edge of the plies I and 2 and extend slightly above the upper face of the shelf to give a very neat ornamental appearance. If a plate, indicated at P in Figure 4, is drawn forward on the shelf and momentarily deflects the scalloped edge I, it will not harm the edging in any way for, as soonas the plate is removed, the scallops will spring back into place.

This edging has a highly reinforced upper portion where it overlies the shelf edge and it is reinforced for practically the entire remainder of its height by cooperation between the plies I and 2 below the lower edge of the ornamental ply.

Figure 5 shows another form of the invention. Here the main ply I is'rnade pleated as in the preceding figures and the back ply 8, which corresponds to the ply 2, is made fiat to overlie the entire back face of the main ply I to which it is secured by adhesive to reinforce the main ply throughout its entire height. The front ply 9, which corresponds to the ply 5 is formed integral with the back ply 8 and is bent over the upper edge of the main ply and is adhesively secured to the front face of said main ply to impart a very strong reinforced edge to the upper edging.

The structure of Figure 6 is the same as the structure of Figure 5 except that the back ply 8 is extended downwardly below the lower edge of the main ply I and folded upwardly over said lower edge of the main ply and adhesively secured to the front face of said main ply, so as to provide a binding at both the upper and lower edges of the main ply and to give a double reinforce to the main ply at both its top and bottom.

Figure 7 shows a structure practically identical with that of Figure 5 except that an independent front ply I0 is adhesively secured in face abutting relation to the front face of the main ply along or spaced from the lower edge of the latter.

It is to be noted that in all of the structures which I have shown the pleats of the main ply are thus reinforced at both the front and the back in such a way that they cannot open and impart to the edging a wavy appearance. The importance of the front and rear reinforcement will be apparent from Figures 8-12 inclusive.

When paper, for example, is pleated, a portion of the length of the paper strip from which the main ply of the edging is to be made is gathered or corrugated to produce ridges indicated in Figure 8 by the reference character II. If there is attached to the back of the main ply It in which these gathers are formed a reinforcing and stiffening ply I3, it will. form a support for the parts of the main ply with which it contacts and to which it is secured, but the loops or gathered portions II will be wholly unsupported; This is the effect obtained if a single gathered or corrugated ply I2 is backed up by a single backing ply I3 and with this arrangement it is utterly impossible to maintain the loop portions II in proper shape particularly if the edging is sold in folded or rolled condition. Therefore, these loops H are preferably flattened down in the course of manufacture. This may be accomplished in different ways, but the two most convenient forms are shown in'Figures 9 and 10, the former of which illustrates a type of fold shown in Figures 1 7 of the drawings. These are ordinary single folded pleats or the pleating may be as in Figure 10 where a box pleat is produced. In any event the back ply 53 will not support the loops H which are loose and will tend to bulge and get out of shape. If, however, there is an additional ply I4 added as a front ply and glued to the loops I I as is the case in the various edgings which I have shown in the drawings, it becomes apparent that the loops are positively held in position whether they be pleated singly as shown in Figure 11 or box pleated as indicated in Figure 12.

The reinforcing plies I3 and I4 of these figures correspond to the back and front plies 2 and 5 of Figures 1-4, plies 8 and 9 of Figures 5 and 6 and plies 8 and 9 and plies S and If! of Figure '7. When the pleats are anchored in the manner described, the edging may besold in folded lengths or rolls and when straightened out and attached to a shelf edge they will lie flat and straight and will not tend to open and bulge. I find that it is not essential to have both the front and back plies extend the full height of the edging to accomplish this result, but at least one of them should extend for at least the greater portion of the height of the edging to properly hold the pleats in condition. This is demonstrated in practice to be the case.

The edging of this invention may be made of any suitable material, such as paper, cloth or cellulosic matter, or a combination thereof, and

the various plies may have scalloped or otherwise configurated edges and they may be printed, embossed or otherwise ornamented to give the desired optical effect or appearance.

The edging of this invention may be secured to the shelf adhesively or through the use of tacks, thumb tacks or the like.

The structure which I have described is relatively rigid longitudinally so as to maintain a substantially straight line when placed on the shelf, but in practice it may be rolled or folded for convenient package distribution to the trade.

Throughout the foregoing specification the present invention has been described as incorporated in shelf edgings adapted to be used without or with an independent shelf covering portion. It is within the purview of this invention, however, to associate the shelf edging which I have described with an appropriate shelf covering portion adapted to overlie the upper face of the shelf S. This shelf covering portion may be made of a separate strip of paper, the forward margin of which is adapted to hang over the front edge of the shelf with its front face adhesively secured to the back face of the back ply 2 or any one of the several plies may be extended upwardly and rearwardly to overlie the shelf and form a shelf covering portion.

An illustrative structure of this kind is shown in Figure 13 wherein the back ply 2 is extended at its upper edge to form a shelf covering portion 2. The front ply 5 may be extended in the same way.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A shelf edging comprising a main ply pleated for its full height, an unpleated back ply overlying at least the greater portion of the height of the pleated main ply and adhesively secured to the main ply for at least the greater portion of the height thereof, said back ply being extended over the lower edge of the pleated main ply into face abutting relation to the front face of the main ply and adhesively secured thereto.

2. A shelf edging comprising a main ply pleated for its full height, an unpleated back ply overlying at least the greater portion of the height of the pleated main ply and adhesively secured to the main ply for at least the greater portion of the height thereof, said back ply being extended over both longitudinal edges of the pleated main ply into face abutting relation to the front face of the main ply and adhesively secured thereto.

3. A shelf edging comprising a main ply peated for its full height, an unpleated back ply in face abutting relation to the main ply and adhesively secured thereto for at least the greater portion of the height of the main ply, and an unpleated, relatively narrow, ornamental front ply extending along and adhesively secured to the front face of the main ply.

4. A shelf edging comprising a main ply pleated for its full height, an unpleated back ply in face abutting relation to the pleats at the back of the main ply and secured to said pleats for a greater portion of the height of the main ply, said back ply being of a height not exceeding the height of the main ply, and a relatively narrow, unpleated, ornamental front ply extending along and positioned wholly in front of the main ply and adhesively secured in face abutting relation to the pleats of the latter.

5, A shelf edging comprising a single thickness main ply pleated for its full height, a single thickness unpleated back ply adhesively secured to the back of the pleats of the main ply for the greater portion of the height of the latter and concealed behind and by the main ply, and a relatively narrow unpleated ornamental front ply extending along and in front of the main ply and adhesively secured in face abutting relation to the pleats of the latter.

6. A shelf edging comprising a main ply pleated for its full height, an unpleated back ply overlying at least the greater portion of the height of the pleated main ply and adhesively secured to the main ply for at least the greater portion of the height thereof, said back ply being extended over the upper edge of the pleated main ply into face abutting relation to the front face of the main ply and adhesively secured thereto to form an ornamental front ply.

EDWARD KARFIOL. 

